Archive for the 'NCAA Tournament' Category

BOSTON — You hardly see a National Hockey League player cry after a crushing loss. Last night, after a 4-3 loss to Providence in the national championship game, there wasn’t a dry eye in the Boston University dressing room.

That’s because in college hockey, at places like Boston University and everywhere else, you’re playing for something bigger than you, and you know it.

Players like Cason Hohmann, Evan Rodrigues and Anthony Moccia might play hockey beyond this season, but it will never be the same. Never.

But that didn’t stop the newspaper from publishing a front-page column on Tuesday, where the lede was “The UMass Lowell hockey team got screwed,” and calling the River Hawks “victims of a computer” in its headline.

Before I sat down to write this blog post, I asked my laptop if it had any bias against any particular college hockey programs. It didn’t answer me.

I am proud to say I cover hockey. However, I am a fan of the sport first.

I’ve been a UMD season-ticket holder since 2003. I remember sitting in front of the television and yelling to the point of nearly losing my voice as the Bulldogs skated to the 2004 Frozen Four, and then took a two-goal lead in the national semifinal against Denver.

As you are probably aware, not much has gone right for UMD since. They were on their way to a win over St. Cloud State in the first round of the 2007 playoffs, but then Bobby Goepfert stood on his head for four overtimes over two nights. His team was pretty thoroughly outplayed, but part of playing the game is scoring goals, and UMD just couldn’t on those nights. St. Cloud won the series, and UMD was sent to the golf course prematurely, only to find when they got there that the two best players on that 2006-2007 team (Matt Niskanen and Mason Raymond) had signed pro contracts.

Last year’s team was strong defensively, but couldn’t score goals. MacGregor Sharp led the team with 17 points. Andrew Carroll led in goals with eight. It doomed them to an eighth-place finish and a two-game playoff loss to Denver.

With how the regular-season ended, no one saw this coming. The Bulldogs went 0-3-2 down the stretch, with two straight losses to Alaska-Anchorage providing a painful farewell for seven UMD seniors. In retrospect, one of the worst home weekends in a long time may have been a blessing in disguise. UMD deserved to lose those games, and they knew it. Instead of moping or resigning themselves to a one-and-done playoff fate, this Bulldog team used the adversity as a coming-together point.

Since they didn’t know they had to fly to Colorado Springs until the close of play Saturday, they had to set up a rather arduous travel schedule. Fly to Minneapolis and then Denver Wednesday evening, and bus from Denver to Colorado Springs. It was early Thursday morning before they arrived. Instead of being tired after such a difficult late-season trip, UMD looked fresh and prepared Friday. A 4-1 win Friday was followed by a 3-1 triumph Saturday.

By now, you know full well what happened over the weekend in St. Paul. It was the kind of history that you don’t get to see every year, and it was a performance for the ages. In a way, it was fitting, because this team made a commitment to themselves after that Anchorage series, and they’ve played near-perfect hockey since.

The most amazing statistic is that they have yet to trail in the playoffs. In fact, the only time any UMD playoff game this year has been tied has been 0-0. Once UMD has taken the lead, they’ve held it. You can credit Alex Stalock all you want, but the 18 guys in front of him deserve their props, too.

One of my worries about UMD going to Colorado College is that they struggled (3-5-3) on the big sheet during the regular season. They allowed too many goals in most of those games, including four in one at Anchorage, six at St. Cloud State, and five at Minnesota. The defense took a few hits in those games, but they have protected Stalock wondrously in the first five playoff games.

Princeton brings speed, skill, and goaltending to the table Friday night. UMD can’t be looking forward to a potential rematch Saturday with Denver (neither can Denver, for that matter, or it could be Miami vs Princeton in front of 550 friends and family at Mariucci). But they haven’t looked forward to anything yet. They’ve focused on the task at hand, even on Saturday night in the WCHA Final Five championship, when they led 3-0, fans were ready to party, and it would have been easy to lapse. Instead of giving up a lame goal late in the game, UMD only let Denver attempt six shots the whole period (five were blocked).

No matter what, the thousands of Minnesotans who will show up at Mariucci Arena Friday night need to appreciate what this UMD team has done. They not only made history, but they’ve shown that from adversity can come special achievements.

That this group of kids banded together and stormed into the NCAA Tournament is the stuff of stories 20 years from now. Expectations are growing in Duluth, but let’s hope the fans also bring a sense of perspective to the rink Friday. The ride this team has taken us on the last two weeks is one that won’t be forgotten anytime soon, and we thank you for it.

As you can see, we weren’t far off. We only got tripped up on the switch of Northeastern and Minnesota-Duluth. We can only speculate that this was for attendance purposes, since it deviates from setting up a “true” 2 vs. 7 matchup in the Midwest (Notre Dame-UMD) and 3-6 in the West (Denver-Northeastern).

Of course, the teams were tied in the Pairwise, basically, so it doesn’t matter too much.

Everything else went according to expectation. And you can read about all the rationale, as we laid out, in the article mentioned above.

Further explanation and analysis, and conversation with the committee, is forthcoming.

As for the brackets themselves, here are some thoughts:

Northeast – Manchester

Boston University is the top overall seed, but because of the seeding processes — as we discussed last night — the Terriers have to play Ohio State in the first round. BU should be able to take care of that young team, but OSU has beaten good teams over the course of the year.

So New Hampshire and North Dakota square off in the other matchup. You have to think the Sioux will be rarin’ to go after losing twice at the Final Five. Then again, UNH has been off a week, and is probably annoyed too.

Midwest – Grand Rapids

Because of the BU issue mentioned earlier, Notre Dame is the beneficiary of facing the lowest overall seed, Bemidji State. Meanwhile, Cornell is banged up, but the program has a strong history of winning first-round games, while Northeastern hasn’t even made the tournament since 1994. Cornell has won at least a game here the last five trips to the NCAAs, but only the seniors on this team have had a trip. That was the year Cornell lost to Wisconsin in triple OT.

West – Minneapolis

Denver faces Miami again, with the matchup of George Gwozdecky and Enrico Blasi. Blasi played for Gwozdecky at Miami. This matchup has happened before in the NCAAs, with Denver winning. So it’s not new, but still interesting.

Princeton, meanwhile, gets the chore of facing red-hot Minnesota-Duluth, and its goaltending star Alex Stalock. Princeton has a Hobey finalist in net in Zane Kalemba. Princeton will play hard and tough, and is better prepared than in last year’s appearance, but we’ll see how they match up on the big ice against Duluth. Princeton has not played on that surface much, if at all, while Duluth has plenty of experience with it.

East – Bridgeport

This should be a very well-attended bracket. Yale is local, and will draw. Vermont travels very well, and will get people down from nearby Burlington. Michigan, the top seed, of course travels well and has plenty of alums. That leaves poor old Air Force, which will play tough, for sure, and give Michigan a run.

Yale-Vermont is an intriguing matchup. We’ll see how the best the ECAC has to offer all year, stacks up against a fourth-place Hockey East team.

The NCAA is once again talking about restricting travel during the NCAA tournament of most sports, thanks to concerns over the economy. The last time it did this was in the aftermath of 9/11, forcing the hockey tournament to take travel into consideration in ways that caused unbalanced brackets. While seemingly with pure intent, the restrictions really did nothing to limit travel as a whole, and instead just messed with the brackets unnecessarily, and the whole thing was scrapped the next year.

This time around, it’s because of the economy and not terrorism concerns. But again, the hockey community is hoping to convince the NCAA it’s unneccessary. So reports that this will affect hockey are a bit premature. It’s only gone past one phase of NCAA legislation and still needs to be approved at the January convention. Before then, hockey commissioners are hoping to do some lobbying, and I have high hopes they will be successful.

The hockey tournament makes money, unlike many of the other NCAA sports, so it has that on its side. And with only 16 teams in it, it leaves very little wiggle room when creating brackets. This risks some really unbalanced brackets, something hockey doesn’t want since it’s been so religious about sticking to a Pairwise-strict bracket integrity even since going to the 16-team field in 2003.

So breathe easy for now, and hope the lobbyists can make some headway.

7:35 p.m. – Joe Whitney is the hero, diving to swat a rebound past Zatkoff at 12:12 of OT to punch BC’s ticket to Denver. A heartbreaking loss for Miami, again so close to a Frozen Four berth, and after so many great chances. Good night from Worcester.

7:24 p.m. – 13:01 left in OT. Muse had to fall on a loose puck after a shot from the point by Martinez. Miami with the better of chances here and outshooting BC 5-1.

6:58 p.m. – And we’re headed to the extra session for the right to go to Denver, tied 3-3. Shots are 38-27 BC. Miami is 3-0-1 in OT this year, including a win last night over Air Force. BC has much more OT experience, 14 games, and the Eagles are 3-3-8 including the triple overtime win over UNH in the HEA semis.

6:50 p.m. – 3:38 to play, tied at 3-3. Bertram had a golden opportunity on the rebound to regain the lead for BC near the end of a power play, but he shot it right into the pad of Zatkoff.

6:34 p.m. – Ryan Jones ties it for Miami with 10:58 to play! He scores on the doorstep, not much Muse could do. Looked like Jones may have taken his man down behind the net without a call just before the goal, but no complaining from the BC side. It comes after several good chances for Miami this period — Muse stopped Kaufman on a redirect early on, then Mercier point blank at the tail end of a Miami power play.

6:04 p.m. – 3-2 BC after two, as the Eagles completed the trifecta with their third in 1:58. It came with 1:14 left after a Miami mistake in the offensive end. BC’s Dan Bertram poked the puck away from a pinching D at the left hash mark and started off a 2-on-1, feeding Ben Smith for the sophomore’s 23rd. And just like that, everything Miami had worked to establish for nearly two periods was erased. Shots are 26-19 BC.

5:56 p.m. – Wow! The Eagles just struck for two goals :14 apart to tie the game. First it was Petrecki one-timing a feed from Gannon on the weak side on a delayed call against the RedHawks. Then off the center ice draw, Gerbe raced up ice and shot in a pass from Gibbons. 2-2, now 1:58 left in the second.

5:41 p.m. – Perhaps the key sequence of the game, as the RedHawks killed off a penalty with Zatkoff making several spectacular saves off the likes of Gerbe and Smith. Then :22 after the penalty expired, Kaufman brought it up ice on a rush and centered to an uncovered Nino Musitelli trailing the play, and the senior slammed it past Muse for his ninth of the year to make it 2-0 Miami. Shots 20-12 BC, 7-2 this period, but the RedHawks have a two goal lead which looks big right now the way Zatkoff is playing.

5:10 p.m. – Jeff Zatkoff is playing well, and Miami has a 1-0 lead on BC after one. The RedHawks are 22-0 this year when scoring first, and 20-0-1 leading after one. BC is 5-7-4 when scored on first, and 4-6-2 when trailing after one. Shots 13-10 BC.

4:54 p.m. – Midway through the first, Miami on top 1-0. The RedHawks got a goal just 1:20 in during a 4-on-4 when Jarod Palmer buried the rebound of a shot by Alec Martinez after both went hard to the net. This is going to be a hard-fought game.

4:20 p.m. – About to get underway here in Worcester. Miami’s Nathan Davis won’t dress with the shoulder injury he re-aggravated last night against Air Force. The big line should be Jones-Camper-Wingels for the RedHawks. Muse in net for BC and Zatkoff for Miami.

6:57 p.m. — Mercier wins it for Miami with a brilliant move, getting around his man and lifting the puck over Volkening’s right pad. Time of the goal, 15:21. Shots 33-25 Miami. It seemed like only a matter of time — Miami dominated the overtime and the Falcons only got chances off transition. Hard work pays off for the RedHawks, and the Falcons get a rousing ovation from the now more than half full DCU Center in admiration. Second game will start in about 45 minutes.

6:43 p.m. — 14:41 left in OT. Miami got an early PP when Burnett took down a man after turning over the puck in his own end, but Volkening again was outstanding — and Camper whiffed with an open net. Miami has had the clear edge, with Volkening the story, robbing Jones too on a break by just getting a piece of it with his blocker.

6:20 p.m. — Headed to OT in Worcester tied at 2-2. Shots in the third 6-4 Miami, 26-19 for the game. Last year the Falcons also had a lead in the third period, and gave up a PPG to start Minnesota’s comeback. This time a PPG does them in again, but they remain alive. Miami had the better of the play that period, and we’ll see if that continues into the extra session. By the way, it’s been a cleanly played game with only five calls — four on the Falcons. Credit Derrick Shepard of the WCHA and his crew for calling a good game so far.

6:14 p.m. — The RedHawks break through, and it took a funny bounce to do it. A PPG by Camper as a shot from the left point by Martinez hit a body out front and came to Camper at the side of the net, Volkening out of position playing the shot by Martinez, and Camper quickly puts it in. 3:13 left now, tied at 2-2.

6:06 p.m. — 7:50 left in the third, Air Force still holding on. Miami has picked it up with some sustained pressure, but still not getting the puck to the net very much. However a golden opportunity for the favorite as the Falcons were nailed for too many men, the first call of the third. Miami trying to avoid going 0-for-4 with the man advantage and this chance may decide if they’ll come back or not.

6:00 p.m. — Still 2-1 Falcons, 11:16 left in the third. Miami came out hitting to start the third, but Air Force stood toe to toe and it’s been an even, defensive period so far. Volkening again has been terrific, kicking out the left skate to rob Cannone six and a half in.

5:32 p.m. — As we hear from the Miami radio crew, it’s desperation time for the RedHawks. Air Force leads 2-1 after two, shots are 19-15 Miami. Very strong period for the Falcons, getting two goals and some strong goaltending from Volkening — and some luck too. Also near us setting up is Wally Shaver with Minnesota radio for the nightcap with BC, and you know he’s seen this play before. Should be a great third period. Shots in the second: 11-7 Miami, 20-15 for the game.

5:20 p.m. — 2-1 Falcons, 7:23 left 2nd. Josh Print gave Air Force the lead with his first of the year, going to the net (notice a trend here) after picking up a loose puck and putting it past Zatkoff. The RedHawks had a 2-on-1 right after but Musitelli missed an open net. Volkening has played well, but Miami seems snakebitten too. The Falcons’ confidence seems to grow and grow as the game goes along. Obviously last year’s close loss to Minnesota was far from a fluke. Stay tuned.

5:07 p.m. — 1-1, 14:06 left 2nd. Air Force tied it three minutes in when Derrick Burnett crashed the net and slammed in a rebound. That came just after a penalty to Ehn (who hasn’t shown any effects of his injury) gave Miami a power play on which the RedHawks’ Jarod Palmer was flat out robbed by Volkening, who was down and out yet got the shaft of his stick up to make the save. Replays on the center ice scoreboard had the crowd oohing and aahing. Attendance, by the way, is sparse, with the arena about 1/4 full. A bigger crowd is expected for the nightcap between Minnesota and local Boston College. Also, Miami’s lines have been a mess with the absence of Nathan Davis, who isn’t even on the bench. If we can find out anything more about his status, we’ll let you know, but remember he has been battling that shoulder injury all year.

4:42 p.m. — Good chances for both clubs in the final minute as Volkening robbed Brian Kaufman on a 2-on-1 and then Eric Ehn on the doorstep couldn’t put a centering pass by Jeff Zatkoff. Miami leads 1-0 after one, shots 9-8 RedHawks. Miami with a slight edge in play but the Falcons generated some good chances on rushes as well. It was a period that started off favoring Miami, and then had hard-hitting physical play midway through along with strong defense by both clubs, changing to a more wide open style in the latter half. Something for everyone in that stanza.

4:32 p.m. — It’s been an entertaining first period with Miami ahead 1-0 late in the period. The RedHawks had the clear edge in play early on, scoring on the first shift when freshman Tommy Wingels wristed a shot past Andrew Volkening on a rush up the left side. But eventually the Falcons settled down and got some momentum off a penalty kill midway through the period. Miami is outshooting Air Force only 6-5 with 3:21 to play.

The early game in Albany is probably the worst idea ever. (Full Disclosure: I’m a Clarkson Alum) If you’re going to make decision like putting Clarkson in Albany based on attendance, wouldn’t you make that game as accessible as possible? For some reason the scheduling here is different than all of the other brackets, and they put made the 2-3 game the early tilt.

A slight disadvantage for Michigan no doubt as most teams prefer the early game for that bonus rest and to watch the competition, but a huge disadvantage for attendance. Why? Because the local Clarkson fan base is probably at WORK. Heck, so are most of the local Albany fans on a Friday afternoon.

A good start would be to move the start time’s up to 5:30 and 8:30 like the Hockey East and Beanpot and at least give people a chance to show up at the arena after work. A better idea is to start holding regionals in the East at better hockey tourist destinations so people are willing to set aside a few days regardless who is playing. The ECAC tournament attendance in Albany was a generous 5,000 fans (lots of fans that looked like seats) compared to 5,600 for the D-III Semifinals in Lake Placid the same weekend. Last year’s attendance for Clarkson / UMass in Rochester was 3,887. Both Lake Placid, Agganis Arena spring to mind as an ideal locations for a regional. Great arenas that could be filled with a lot of atmosphere, and a lot of things to do for the weekend. I may even toss the Gutterson Fieldhouse into that mess. How about a location in NYC? Give me a reason for the trip regardless of who is playing!

A near miss on the empty net after a steal, and thats game. Maine advances to the Frozen Four 3 to 1!!

Now under three to go. No goalie pull yet. But now a UMass PP with ninety second remaining and we’re going for any extra attacker coming out of the timeout.

A little under seven to go here in Rochester. UMass having a horrible time trying to move the puck out of their zone for the past two minutes. Still 3-1.

Note to Maine Pep Band. Smashmouth was not even good in its original form. I disagree with your decision. Shots now 27 to 25 in favor of UMass with about ten to go.

Maine heads to the PP now and now a 5 on 3 and any opportunity for Maine to go two up….. And they do! Max Duffy makes it 3-1 with thirteen to go.

Nothing doing in the third so far four minutes in except a wild Maine opportunity that almost scored moments ago.

End of 2, 2-1 UMaine.

Bishop coming up huge for Maine on another PK but UMass finally tallies a goal, and a solid one at that with 1:46 left in the 2nd to make it 2-1 Maine. Goal by Fenton.

UMass with some 5 on 3 time now. Final now, BC 4 – SLU 1. As the two man advantage ends UMass is having a hard time finding the zone. Bishop almost killed one of his own fans throwing the puck out of play. I’m surprised the NCAA hasn’t instituted the delay of game penalty that the NHL has. I suspect that most NCAA arenas have less protection than NHL rinks and it removes the tossing the puck out to get a change ploys.

3300 or so here tonight. A Cheel Arena type number. Maybe a little less than Maine is used to playing in front of.

Quite the day so far around the NCAA. Minnesota storming back from two goals down in the third to beat Air Force and stave off messagw board banter for another year. UNH loses to Miami today completing the sweep of ‘Greatest Teams to Never Win an NCAA Title.’

While I write that… Boom! Another goal for Maine! This time off the goalies head by Mike Hamilton. He fist pumped, I’m not sure that goal was ‘fist-pumpable.’

Wow, UMass picked it up on shots, up 8 to 0 this period. Yet on Maine’s first shot it’s a goal! Maine is up 1 to 0 on a goal from Tyler with 14:37 left in the second.

Both teams underway here for the second period and UMass comes out firing on the PP which is killed. Wow Bishop got totally turned around but the puck stays out. Speaking of Bishop the man is a giant for a goalie, also some Maine fans feel that he is ‘Ben-Believable.’

The period ends with both teams tied at zero. A lot of action, 13 to 5 in favor of UMaine.

Just a heads up to all of you looking for Nick Tahou’s on Lyell to get a famed Garbage Plate either before or even after the game, it has been renamed to Steve T’s Potatoes and Hots. Same spectacular food, just a different name due to a rumored family dispute.

After arriving late to the Blue Cross Arena, I’m not surprised to find UMass and Maine knotted at 0-0, more than midway through the first. I AM surprised at the full half of the arena filled with Minutemen and Black Bear fans, any excellent turnout. Maine’s band is here and sounds good as well. Maine with a ton of pressure, but UMass kills a lengthy 5 on 3. Fun hockey so far.